Relinking Structural Violence: Social Discrimination in Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist

Abstract

This thesis examines the link between social discrimination and structural violence in Mohsin Hamid’s novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist. Structural violence is the theory or a form of violence wherein some social structures or social institutions may harm people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs. The research highlights the protagonist, Changez’s identity and shares his experience of how he feels ashamed while living in America and faces issues like social discrimination, and social grievance in the post-event of 9/11. Social and political discourses create discrimination against Muslims in the Western world. Thus, Joan Galtung’s theory of structural violence has been used as the primary theoretical framework for the textual analysis of the novel. Therefore, the selected text illustrates oppression and injustice for having different identities. Furthermore, Galtung contends that this type of violence is more hazardous than direct physical violence. Specifically, Hamid portrays the misrepresentation of Muslims in America and the dark face of American society revealing his prominent side. This thesis makes the connection between readers and the protagonist, Changez. The research is qualitative as the data has been analysed through textual analysis techniques. This research may be beneficial to new researchers to analyse other texts of Hamid for exploring the problems of trans nationality of Muslims in America and around the globe.